Harrison Ford asked to be killed off in the original 'Star Wars' trilogy

Harrison Ford is heading back to a galaxy far, far away in "Star
Wars: The Force Awakens," but he didn't always plan to return to
the franchise.

On "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Thursday evening, Ford, in a hot dog
costume for Halloween, explained how he asked for his iconic Han
Solo character to be killed off.

"I didn't ask him [Lucas] to personally kill me off. I asked
him to ask the writers to kill me off," explained Ford.

George Lucas previously told Empire magazine Ford continuously
asked to be killed off after his character was frozen in
carbonite in the fifth movie, 1980's "The Empire Strikes
Back."

"I said, “Harrison, I can’t kill you. I need you at the end
of the next movie. There’s this love thing going on. But I’ll do
the next best thing. I’ll put you in a slab of concrete and ship
you off to Mars," Lucas told the magazine.

Ford also admitted he wanted Solo to be killed off in the
final film in
2010 to ABC News. Back then, he said he just didn't find the
character interesting."I thought
he should have died in the last one just to give it some bottom,"
said Ford. "George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han
toys.”

This time around, Ford gave a different reasoning for wanting his
character axed.

"I thought it would be good that the character ... if he
sacrificed himself in some noble way," Ford told Kimmel.

Ford's mention of a sacrifice brings to mind a scene in trailers
fans are currently debating where it looks like a character may
have been seriously injured in the
film.

Lucasfilm

Some fans believe the person Rey's crying over
could be Han, who may have sacrificed himself for the greater
good.

Ford's interview was part of a larger segment in which
the actor briefly discussed "The Force Awakens," but told
Kimmel he wouldn't drop any new details because he wants the
audience to experience the film when it debuts.

"What is there to say and why would you want to say
anything?" Ford asked Kimmel.